diff --git a/examples/serdes-with-references/pom.xml b/examples/serdes-with-references/pom.xml
index 461c996a9a..780ac27436 100644
--- a/examples/serdes-with-references/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/serdes-with-references/pom.xml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     <artifactId>apicurio-registry-examples-references</artifactId>
 
     <properties>
-        <protobuf.version>4.26.1</protobuf.version>
+        <protobuf.version>4.27.1</protobuf.version>
         <proto-plugin.version>0.6.1</proto-plugin.version>
         <protobuf.googleapi.types.version>2.40.0</protobuf.googleapi.types.version>
     </properties>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 5dba6becd0..1cf0b61a7d 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@
         <okio.version>3.9.0</okio.version>
         <okio-fake-file-system.version>3.9.0</okio-fake-file-system.version>
         <icu4j.version>75.1</icu4j.version>
-        <protobuf.version>3.19.6</protobuf.version>
+        <protobuf.version>4.27.1</protobuf.version>
         <xmlsec.version>4.0.2</xmlsec.version>
         <protobuf.googleapi.types.version>2.40.0</protobuf.googleapi.types.version>
         <wsdl4j.version>1.6.3</wsdl4j.version>